Built by a karate instructor for WKF, WUKF, and AAU events. Auto-assigned divisions, live scoreboards on every tatami, WKF 2024-rules scoring that keeps working when the venue wifi doesn't — in English and Spanish. No spreadsheets. No 7 a.m. panic.
Tournament creation is always free. Pay only when you approve competitors.
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The first 50 tournament directors to purchase credits during beta become founding directors. Founding directors get:
Founding directors are already live: Copa Murayama XL, an international cup with athletes from three countries, runs on Taikai App. There's room for more, but not for long.
Tournament setup is always free. Founding director pricing applies after beta ends.
Auto-assigned divisions, live overlap detection, locked brackets that won't corrupt mid-match, and a generator that knows you've already bracketed Division 4 so you don't accidentally regenerate it at 11 a.m. Saturday.
QR code check-in, weight verification on the spot, walk-in handling without password collection, CSV bulk import, and pay-later support for directors who want it.
Separate logic for kata flags, kata points, kumite, team kumite, and kobudo. WKF panel scoring with auto-drop of high and low. Real-time sync across every screen in the venue.
Judges, operators, and spectators all see the same scoreboard — updated in real time on every tatami. If the venue wifi drops, scores queue offline and sync the moment you're back. No refreshing. No confusion about who won.
See Scoring Features →
Smoothcomp is grappling-first. Kihapp is a generalist. Neither was built with a karate tournament director in the room.
Grappling-first. Their entire model assumes two people compete until someone submits or time runs out. Adapting it to a karate event means working against the software at every step.
Generalist. Stretched across multiple martial arts. Useful, but never specifically tuned for the WKF or AAU karate experience. You feel the gap the moment you set up your first kata flag bracket.
Karate-first. Every workflow, every scoring system, every default. If you've ever wished your tournament software just understood what you were trying to do, that's exactly what we built.
I'm Kenji Nakata. I run Nakata Dojo and I organize karate tournaments. I built Taikai App because the existing tools were getting in the way. And because they're ugly. Karate is a beautiful art. The software running our tournaments should look like it belongs to that world.
Every feature in this app came out of a real moment at a real event where the existing tools made my job harder. The bracket guard that prevents accidental regeneration mid-tournament? That came from a near-miss. The instant credit refund? That came from explaining one too many surprise charges.
Read the Full Story →
Sign up, create a tournament, build out your divisions, configure events, set up your scoring, invite your staff. All of it is free. Always.
You only pay when you approve a competitor. One credit equals one approved competitor.
During beta, credit packs are discounted up to 75%: 100 credits for $50, 300 for $120, or 600 for $150 — as low as $0.25 per competitor. Every director during beta gets these rates, not just founding directors.
The first 50 directors to purchase credits during beta lock in founding director status — 20% off standard pricing forever after we exit beta. Everyone else transitions to standard pricing ($1.00 per credit) when beta ends.
From $0.25 per competitor during beta
10 credits — $10 · 100 credits — $50 · 300 credits — $120 · 600 credits — $150. Every director who joins during beta gets these rates.
The first 50 directors to purchase credits during beta become founding directors and get 20% off standard pricing forever after beta ends.
Stop fighting your software. Start using a tool built for the way karate tournaments actually run.
No credit card required to start. Founding director status locks in when you buy your first credit pack during beta.